Cowboys owner Jerry Jones put himself in the unusual position of having to backtrack on some of his comments to the press.

After first-round pick WR Dez Bryant suffered a high ankle sprain Friday that will keep him out four to six weeks, Jones told ESPN, "It's really disappointing, and it really causes you to ask what you can do in practices that can mitigate some of the exposure to some of these injuries. It's a real challenge for everybody. The key thing is you ask yourself, 'Are we pushing him too hard; does it happen at the end of practice when the players are tired?' ... You generally are more prone to injury when you're tired. I just spoke with Dez. He's upset, worrying about how many preseason games he'll miss. He's really worked hard for us."

This quote isn’t that incendiary, but it smacks of a meddling owner (No! Not Jerry Jones!) who thinks he should be the one running the practices. It’s not that big of a deal, except that the words came from the mouth of Jones, and it’s the fact that coach Wade Phillips also seems a loss or two away from drawing unemployment.

True, Bryant was working at receiver – he was trying to take away Roy Williams’ job, but he also was getting plenty of work as a kick and punt returner. On the other hand, Dez Bryant was suspended for most of his final season at Oklahoma State, and he knows he needs all the work he can get. Which, I thought, was the main reason he was the first first-round pick to sign – so he could practice as much as possible.

Anyway, Jones decided to take another crack at discussing the issue Saturday.

"I'm not being critical,” Jones told reporters today. "What I’m being is analytical, or trying to be analytical. This is when you all sit down and look at everything you're doing and see if there's some things you can do to help protect your team better, especially during this time five, six weeks away from opening game."

The Tweets are flying in: Cowboys star rookie receiver Dez Bryant was hurt on the second to last play of practice today. After the play, Bryant got up off the ground but then went back down. He needed help leaving the field. Observers suspect either a knee or ankle. Obviously, the severity is unknown at this point.

UPDATE: Wade Phillips is saying sprained ankle.

UPDATE II: Bryant has a high ankle sprain. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.

The second of the first-round picks has signed, as the Patriots and CB Devin McCourty have come to an agreement on a five-year deal, according to his agent Andy Simms . He will be in camp today, Simms wrote.

Now, as training camps open this week – some teams, of course, already are practicing – the rookie holdout watch really begins. McCourty was one of the next obvious first-round picks to sign, because Dallas had signed Dez Bryant, who was picked three spots beforeMcCourty, last week, creating a framework in which the Patriots and Simms could negotiate.

But the real domino-shifter will be No. 1 pick, QB Sam Bradford. When he signs with the Rams – and the Internet scuttlebutt says it should happen in the next day or two – that’s when you’ll start to see more top-round signings.

Dez Bryant already is acting like a veteran. Something goes wrong, blame the media. Get beaten up across the national airwaves, blame the media. That’s what he did today when he was asked about refusing to carry fellow WR Roy Williams’ pads after practice.

"It was never an issue," Bryant said. "Y'all made it an issue. It was never nothing. Y'all are trying to turn it into something.

"I have been trying to do the right thing. Y'all are trying to turn it into something negative. I am going to continue to do the right thing. Everybody on the team likes me, and I like everybody on the team. Y'all are trying to put me and Roy against each other. That is not going to happen. We are trying to do something real special here. We are going to continue to keep trying to do that."

I suppose it’s possible Bryant is telling the truth. But after talking to Dallas coach Wade Phillips after the incident, it’s funny how quickly Bryant’s attitude changed.

Still, it sounds like a punishment is in order. Perhaps dinner for assorted teammates on Bryant’s credit card. Bryant told reporters that was just fine by him.

In other Cowboys news, RB Felix Jones was held out of Tuesday’s second practice, because he had some swelling in his knee. Phillips told reporters he expects Jones back by Wednesday.

Yesterday, rookie sensation (and future Canton inductee, based on his first two days at practice, obviously!) Dez Bryant made a lot of noise with his play on the Cowboys practice field. He made more noise with his refusal to carry veteran Roy Williams' pads.

Today, according to ESPN Dallas' Calvin Watkins, Wade Phillips had a little something to say to Dez . Dez Bryant walks out onto the field today and Wade Phillips has a little chat with him. Whether that chat involved the words "You WILL carry my spare ribs" no one can know for sure. But more than likely, it served as the Cowboys' manner of letting Dez know that future disrespect -- whether intended or not -- towards veteran players would not go over well.

Yesterday, rookie sensation (and future Canton inductee, based on his first two days at practice, obviously!) Dez Bryant made a lot of noise with his play on the Cowboys practice field. He made more noise with his refusal to carry veteran Roy Williams' pads.

Today, according to ESPN Dallas' Calvin Watkins, Wade Phillips had a little something to say to Dez . Dez Bryant walks out onto the field today and Wade Phillips has a little chat with him. Whether that chat involved the words "You WILL carry my spare ribs" no one can know for sure. But more than likely, it served as the Cowboys' manner of letting Dez know that future disrespect -- whether intended or not -- towards veteran players would not go over well.

Dez Bryant's been the talk of Cowboys camp for his big plays, fan-friendliness and fantastic demeanor.

Until a report from Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com came out Sunday night, in which Bryant refuses to carry veteran Roy Williams' pads. (It is, of course, customary for rookies to suffer through, for lack of a better word, hazing during their first year.)"I'm not doing it," Bryant said. "I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player's pads."

"If I was a free agent, it would still be the same thing. I just feel like I'm here to play football. I'm here to try to help win a championship, not carry someone's pads. I'm saying that out of no disrespect to [anyone]." The normal reaction to this would be: "What the hell is this rookie thinking???"

The appropriate reaction here might be "Who the hell does Roy Williams think he is telling ANYONE to carry something for him?"

Fortunately, things seemed to be a little too friendly between the rook and the vet, so Dez refusing to carry Williams' stuff is actually fairly refreshing, in that we should see some drama -- outside of Williams' 2004 Navigator comment -- unfold in the receiving corps in Dallas.

In honor of the Cowboys opening training camp today, we have some news for you.

So, what will Dallas’ players be in store for today, beginning with their first practice this afternoon? Lots of running probably. As the Dallas Morning News points out this morning, the first day of camp is devoted to conditioning and determining what kind of shape the players are in as they report.

"I expect them to come in in good shape,'' coach Wade Phillips said. "When they left the off-season program, they were all at least pointing toward coming in at a good weight.”

According to the Morning News, quarterback Tony Romo weighed in at 226 pounds, five pounds under his assigned weight.

-Two players who won’t be involved in workouts today are linebacker Stephen Hodge and rookie safety Akwasi Owusu-Ansah – who have been placed on the Physically Unable to Perform list, meaning they won’t be available to play for the first six games of the season.

Hodge is still recovering from last year's season-ending microfracture knee surgery, and Owusu-Ansah missed every offseason practice following his March shoulder surgery. Head coach Wade Phillips said Owusu-Ansah appears close to returning, but Hodge's timetable for medical clearance is a bit more uncertain.

-With the official beginning of training camp, Dallas executive vice president Stephen Jones sat down for a preseason news conference. He had good news to report. Now that the Cowboys have signed second-round pick, LB Sean Lee, they’ve secured contracts with all of their draft picks. That means no hold-outs for Dallas.

How in the heck did that happen?

“We knew initially we were going to have to be the first ones out of the bag in terms of getting these guys signed and so we came up with a strategy to work with the agents on what those increases will be from last year," Jones said. "Rather than typically what we would do is just go slide it, the guy in front of you the guy in back of you, sometimes a couple of slots, but it’s much easier to get it done that way. We had commitments from the agents and I think it speaks to the players as well. Both Dez (Bryant) and Sean Lee are obviously more difficult players to get done because you’re dealing with a larger magnitude of money and that first and second round is usually a little more complicated in terms of the deal. But both Dez and Sean are the type of guys who don’t want to miss anything and who really want to help contribute this year and didn’t want to miss anything.”